There's no losing in baseball

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COSTA MESA Just a week after policies, politics and parents led to a suspension of games and practices for the Newport Beach Little League program, another pair of local Little League teams reminded us why we play ball.

It was Saturday night, under the lights on Field No. 2 at TeWinkle Park, where two baseball teams who have never met before challenged each other and the 150 bundled-up spectators to remember why we love this splendid game.

The game featured the visiting District 62 Challenger Senior Division team of Orange County players, ages 12 to 22, with special needs, developmental and physical disabilities. They took on the hosting Costa Mesa American Little League team of 10- to 12-year-old boys who understood just how special this game was.

Rarely, if ever, do Little League teams from these separate divisions play each other, according to District 62 Challenger Division president Krissy Land and Costa Mesa American Little League president Todd Cowley.

“But we thought this was something fun that we thought the kids would enjoy doing together beneath the lights,” said Cowley, who has scheduled two more games with Challenger opponents this season.

“Everybody loves baseball, right?”

Before this night, ability had kept these players apart.

Challenger teams play an adaptive game with fewer rules, more hand-holding buddies on the base paths, more forgiving pitchers and no strikes, no outs or no scorekeepers.

Participation is the only victory that counts.

To understand why this is true, you should know how some of the Challenger players and their families practiced all their lives to take their at-bats, run the bases and come home in triumph on Saturday night.

One Challenger infielder with Down syndrome spent three weeks learning how to grip a bat and a full season of swinging himself into knots before making contact for the most memorable bunt his parents ever witnessed.

Another Challenger outfielder with autism used to be so uncomfortable running that he could only shuffle his sneakered feet along the white chalk base paths; he covered his ears while he moved.

On this night, he slid home, got up, dusted himself off and twirled his way back to a dugout of applause.

The Challenger catcher was born with severe scoliosis and spent the first four years of his life in a halo orthopedic cast to straighten his spine. He was 5 years old before he took his first step and needed 10 back surgeries before he could run without pain.

On Saturday night, Cole was the 4-foot-6 survivor, strapping his legs inside red shin guards, fastening a chest protector around his hips, pulling his mask over his face and crouching behind home plate.

His lungs, he said, can handle only 32 percent capacity of normal lungs. But that didn't keep him from sprinting to chase down every ball and seeking to chest bump players on the opposing team when they scored.

The boys on the Costa Mesa American team couldn't be expected to know the hardship stories of the visitors on this night. It took some trust and some faith that competitive, entirely healthy 10- to 12-year-old boys would be sensitive to their challenged challengers.

But baseball, in its simplest, most inclusive and most beautiful form, brought them together for a game in which everyone won.

Costa Mesa American utility player Zach Mascarenas, 10, of Huntington Beach, came into the game knowing he wanted to play ball rather than play hard. During his first at-bat, he thought of his sister, Hope, 4, who has Down syndrome and watched from her stroller parked near the stands beside his dugout.

“My sister is so loving and really enjoys just being out with other kids,” Zach said. “When I saw the other team, I hoped that she could play baseball like them some day.”

The goal was to have fun, which everyone – even those parents clutching cellphone cameras, and applauding spectators – had through three innings of everybody-plays baseball.

Costa Mesa American leadoff hitter Terry Cowley, 12, ripped a line drive toward center field and dashed two steps before hitting the brakes in shock.

Challenger shortstop Michael Meer leaped, snagged the rocket for the out and then – we don't see this on TV – danced, complete with pelvic gyrations and fist pumps. A dance party broke out in the Challenger infield.

At this moment, a stunned Costa Mesa American slugger Mark Blanco turned to his teammates in the dugout and said, “These guys are for real!”

We could see how real the love for baseball was when Challenger slugger Christian Palmer of Westminster arrived 30 minutes before the 7 p.m. start and immediately positioned himself in the on-deck circle, bat in hand, helmet on. He couldn't wait to play.

The always-smiling, always fist bumping Christian tailed his manager to make sure his teammates were penciled properly on the line-up card. He was first on the third-base line, cap over heart, for the national anthem. He even jumped when “the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air” crackled over the field's speakers.

The excitement overtook him so much that when his name was announced to bat cleanup he couldn't be found. Then he appeared, calling for a bat, having just raced back from the restroom. He knocked three runners home with a bases-clearing fly to center.

“I love this game,” he said. “But I had to go to the bathroom.”

Everyone waited while nature called. Even the fun-loving volunteer umpiring crew and volunteer announcer, Gary March, got into the action.

Noticing that Costa Mesa American catcher Jacob Schultz had the ball at the plate and was ready to put the tag on incoming Challenger player Elim Feliciano of Santa Ana, umpire Barry Silverman asked Jacob if he could see the ball.

Silverman then took the ball and tossed it toward first, allowing Elim to cross safely. While Elim threw his hands toward the lights in celebration, March announced, “An error has been charged to the catcher.”

A breathless, scrambling Jacob lifted his mask, stood at the plate and started laughing. He high fived the next runner who scored. When Jacob rounded the bases during the next inning, he engaged the defense in run downs, taking steps forward and back for 30-second sessions of monkey-in-the-middle and tag.

“I had never played with Challenger teams before, but this made me really happy,” said Jacob, 11, of Costa Mesa. “I can see how happy they get playing. They practice hard. They all try. They've got baseball dreams too.”

In the end, the teams lined up to shake hands. But rather than just trading handshakes, many players stopped to introduce themselves. Some even hugged. And parents cried.

It was a night when nobody cared about how many home runs anyone hit or outs anyone made or who beat whom.

Sure, baseball had brought these players to the same field. But the game gave them something greater: friendship.

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